


Resemblances

by Kiiratam



Category: RWBY
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Glynda is a hardass, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Meditations on Semblances, Practice Bouts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-12-14 08:08:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21012527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiiratam/pseuds/Kiiratam
Summary: Professor Goodwitch's class is all practice bouts today - with a twist. Blake watches Sun and Yang's match, and lets her mind wander during the shotgunning.Takes place between Volumes 2 and 3. (My BMBLB fic index)





	Resemblances

**Author's Note:**

> [Recommended listening.](https://youtu.be/bo-Zu4DgE5c)

"Miss Xiao Long, Mr. Wukong - you're up." Profeasor Goodwitch twitched her crop, sweeping spent casings and shattered terrain from the arena floor. "Miss Rose, Miss Valkyrie - you both need to work on precision. You won't always have the luxury of space. Miss Rose- incorporate more stabs with your weapon's butt spike, and work on short range fire. Miss Nikos, please work with her on that. Miss Valkyrie - collateral damage. **Minimize it**. Miss Schnee, please help her with that." She pushed her glasses up on her nose, checked the list on her desk. "Miss Schnee, Mr. Vasilias, you're on deck." Weiss stood up, and started down the stairs.

  
Blake winced. Goodwitch had critiques for everyone today. Even Pyrrha had gotten her flaws pointed out (relying on her opponents doing what she wanted, mostly.) And Goodwitch kept giving everyone odd battlefields, or restrictions. Pyrrha couldn't use her shield, Ruby and Nora hadn't had enough room to swing their weapons, Ren and Cardin had both been blindfolded... Blake wasn't looking forward to whatever her handicap was going to be.

  
Sun and Yang stepped into the arena, limbering up. Blake could only see Yang's back, but Sun caught her eye and threw her a smile.

  
"This match, you will be restricted to ranged combat. Coming within melee range will disqualify you." Both of them turned and stared at Goodwitch, along with most of the class. What kind of ridiculous restriction was that? Especially for these two. "There are several reasons you may wish to avoid close-quarters combat. Miss Sustrai, give me one."

  
"They're too strong for you."

  
"Correct. Some Grimm have ranged capacity - as I'm sure Professor Port has pointed out - but they cannot sustain the rate or volume of fire of an Academy team. Keeping out of their reach is sometimes the best tactical choice. Mr. Arc, another."

  
"Umm, you're trying to protect someone?"

  
"That is another reason, yes. So long as you remember that passive defenses are easy to overcome. If you don't have a ranged weapon, you're letting them control the terms of engagement."

  
Blake winced again. Jaune wasn't even in the arena, and Goodwitch was already pointing out his problems.

  
"Miss Belladonna, one more reason."

  
Her movement must have drawn Goodwitch's eye. She'd have to work on that. "You're trying to disengage. As part of a chase, because they outnumber you, because you're trying to evacuate someone-"

  
"-That's enough. Yes, fundamentally, ranged combat commits you less. It permits you to stay mobile, helps you maintain better situational awareness, and lets you escape if need be." She hit a few keys on her desk, setting up the match. Ruby made it back to her seat, flopping down with a sigh. The lights over the seats dimmed.

  
Blake tried to relax. She knew this was all just training, but seeing her friends fight each other always put her on edge. The White Fang hadn't been a pack of bandits, always fighting among themselves. They had a common goal, and they worked towards it together. Even the split between the old and new White Fang had been, if not amicable, peaceful. But since then, she'd had to fight the White Fang. Her old family.

  
_No. No, that had been true, before Adam. Afterwards, it had just been another lie to keep me in line._

  
She kept wondering how long it would be before she recognized someone on the opposite side of the battlefield. There wasn't anything she could do about it, Blake knew. If the White Fang was going to act as muscle for criminals like Torchwick, if they'd fallen that far from their mission... she had to stop them.

  
Shotgun blasts broke through her contemplations. Sun and Yang had started their match. Normally, Yang would have just dashed forward, sped by Ember Celica, and come to grips with Sun. And Sun would have tried to keep her at the slightly longer range his staff afforded. It might have even worked for a while, but Yang would inevitably close to punching range, and then Sun would switch to short-range stick fighting and binds. Unfortunately for Sun, Yang was stronger, so all his binds could do was buy him a little bit of time. And it wasn't like Yang really had a weapon to bind. The real fight would be in the footwork, with Yang always closing, and Sun trying to keep out of her reach. Sun had lighter feet, but Ember Celica gave Yang more burst speed. Blake knew it could go either way. Under normal circumstances.

  
Blake could see that both of them were fighting their reflexes. They'd both closed to very short range, and were firing with their shotguns - Sun whirling Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang, Yang punching away. It wasn't exactly a match with finesse. But what else could they do? There was no cover in the arena, and trying to stay mobile was problematic. You'd be harder to hit, but your own aim would be worsened. And without anything else on the battlefield, be it allies, cover, distractions, anything, what were you buying time for? Waiting for your opponent to reload?

  
They were trying - Sun rotating about his axises, doing flips - but that meant he could only shoot with one hand. And Yang was dashing from side to side with Ember Celica, but those were shots that weren't going downrange.

  
Regardless, their Auras were dropping fast. And that wasn't good news for Sun. Because Blake knew Yang's Semblance was being charged by the close-range shotgun carnage, and unless Sun could drop her below the 20% victory threshold before she hit back - but could Yang use her Semblance through her blasts? Blake had only see her activate it when she was punching.

  
Adam, she knew, had to use Wilt. She'd asked him why. Shouldn't his Semblance be a part of _him_, not his weapon? But he'd never given her a straight answer. Oh, he'd given her answers - that he'd mastered the sword, and the two of them were one. That the blade was made from Dust he'd mined, sweat, bled, cried over, and that made it a part of him. That he could use any weapon, but Wilt was _his_. Blake had known better than to confront him with his various stories, and try to get the truth. He didn't like the truth, only **his** truth.

  
_Breathe in, hold it, breathe out._

  
She hadn't really wanted to ask Yang about her Semblance. Blake was afraid - irrationally afraid, she knew - that if she pushed too hard, that Yang would turn out to be just the same as Adam underneath. Adam had his Grimm mask, and Yang... Yang had more subtle masks. She could just... turn on friendliness. Or sudden drop into playful flirting. Or cover herself with jokes and puns. And Blake was afraid that kind, caring, considerate Yang was just another mask. Blake hoped that it wasn't. Told herself that. Adam hadn't been able to hide for too long. Just long enough for young, stupid, _romantic_ Blake to get herself trapped. By the time she realized who he was, she didn't have anywhere else to go. She'd already burned her bridges. And Blake had hoped she was mistaken. Had told herself that it was just that Adam was stressed, that he'd go back to the way he'd been.

  
_Breathe in, stupid, hold it, stupid, breathe out, stupid._

  
Next to Blake, Ruby was cheering for her sister, shouting out advice. Ruby loved her sister. And Ruby would never have put up with what Adam had done. And Yang had helped raise Ruby. Blake looked at herself, all her breaks and scars and fears. Compared herself to Ruby, who practically shone with wholesome enthusiasm, joy for life, deep compassion. Blake remembered how bad she'd been at fifteen. Compared to then, Blake was practically whole again. Yang couldn't be like Adam. She had masks, but they were to protect herself, not to inspire fear in others.

  
_ Breathe in, hold it, breathe out._

  
They were nearly done. Sun was at 24%, Yang at 27%. Blake could see Yang's Aura shimmer with stored energy. Sun had to end it now, or Yang would trigger her Semblance and - Blake didn't know - do a ground pound? Throw something? Even if her Semblance needed her to hit something, surely throwing a rock would be enough? Maybe she needed to be closer, for the destructive energy in her Aura to transfer successfully. Adam could, if he had enough energy, throw out sword strokes that reached farther than the length of Wilt. Maybe Yang could do something similar? Blake did have a book where one character could ring a giant bell from across a courtyard, with only a flick of her finger.

  
Sun took a step back, hurling Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang forward. He slammed his palms together, and two glowing copies of himself materialized out of his Aura. Each one caught one of Sun's weapons, and fired both ends, simultaneously and at short range, into Yang. She ducked her head, charging forward at one of Sun's clones, which was already fading-

  
The match buzzer sounded. Sun's weapons clattered to the ground as his clones vanished. Blake checked their Auras. Sun 20%, Yang 17%.

  
Professor Goodwitch brought the lights back up for everyone else. "Mr. Wukong, did you have a plan to recover your weapons?"

  
"Uh..." Sun put his hand behind his head, and grinned up at Goodwitch. "Not really, I was hoping that would work."

  
"It did- this time. But you should always have contingency plans. Miss Schnee, Mr. Vasilias, you're up. Mr. Wukong, I'd like a two-page essay on how you could use that maneuver _without_ leaving yourself helpless. By next class." Sun nodded, and even from here, Blake could tell he wasn't thrilled. "Miss Xiao Long- timing, timing, timing. Don't be afraid to use your Semblance early. It doesn't have to be a finishing move. Two pages on the dangers of waiting to muster overwhelming force. Next class." Blake saw the tension knot itself into Yang's back.

  
Blake wondered... her Semblance had always been an escape. An easy way to get out of a bad spot, and leave her clone to take it for her. But Sun always used his clones aggressively. Blake had used them offensively, in her fight with Torchwick, but that had all been thanks to Weiss' supply of Dust. But... Blake had never really tried to interact with her clones. They were just after-images of her. She thought. But sometimes they lingered after she was gone, if they survived. What if that meant there was more to her Semblance she hadn't discovered yet? What if she could do more than just run away?

  
"Miss Belladonna, Mr. Thrush, you're on deck."

  
She got up from her seat, and started heading down to the arena. Only half-listening as Goodwitch told Neptune and Weiss that they would be fighting while chained to the arena floor. Coming the other way was Yang, back to where Ruby was sitting. Yang's eyes were still red, and her hair was nearly glowing.

  
Blake smiled at her friend. "Close match."

  
Blowing out a breath, Yang nodded. Shook herself, and looked back at Blake with violet eyes. "I nearly had him."

  
"Next time." Blake reached out and mussed Yang's hair. It felt hot, like she had been lying in the sun. "What were you going to do with your Semblance?"

  
"Throw his gun-chucks at him." Yang snorted. "Dunno if it would have worked, but the irony would have been fun."

  
The lights went down for the start of the next match. In the darkness, it became even more obvious that Yang's hair was actually putting out light. She gave Yang's hair a last muss, and slipped past her.

  
As she did, Yang murmured "Good luck."

  
Blake flashed her a thumbs-up, and kept heading down.


End file.
